White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci says the U.S. government should consider vaccine requirements for domestic air travel.

Currently, the United States mandates that noncitizens coming into the country present proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of departure. Travelers who took the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, as well as shots approved by the World Health Organization, are authorized to enter the United States under federal health guidelines.

View Comments (2)

But Fauci said those requirements should be expanded.

“If you’re making a requirement for vaccination for people to get on planes who are coming into the country, that’s understandable,” he told MSNBC on Dec. 27. “You don’t want to bring more cases into the country. But if you’re talking about requiring vaccination to get on a plane domestically, that is just another one of the requirements that I think is reasonable to consider…”

Critics of mandates and vaccine passport systems say that such measures create a two-tiered society of vaccinated and unvaccinated people that denies rights and privileges to unvaccinated individuals, even though data have shown that fully vaccinated people can contract and transmit COVID-19…

“When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated. If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered,” Fauci said.

During a recent interview with ABC, President Joe Biden said that vaccine requirements for domestic air travel have been considered. But Biden said the “recommendation I’ve gotten is [that it’s] not necessary.”

How do you feel about vaccines being required on domestic flights? Let us know in the comments!

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Getty Images)